Methods and systems for managing media content

ABSTRACT

An information processing device is capable of handling changes occurring in values of information possessed by targets. Relationships between information are expressed as relationship structures through connection in a hierarchical manner using links expressing topic nodes expressing content of information as reference information. The relationship structures are generated for each provider providing information and generate an overall relationship structure for all of the information. A weighting is assigned to links so that values can be calculated for the topic nodes using just the weightings of nodes linking to topic nodes. These values are such that in a case where user information is utilized, topic node values relating to this information are added. It is therefore possible to know the value of information with respect to a user using these topic nodes.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an information management system,information processing device, information processing method,information processing program, and storage medium. Specifically,changes occurring in information value are handled by generating aninformation relationship structure for between information.

BACKGROUND ART

In a networked society where value systems are becoming ever morediversified, it is difficult to express a value of information flowingover a network in a uniform manner. For example, in a case ofphotographs of your own children, a value of the photographs changes ina case of showing the photographs to friends and in a case of showingthe photographs to the children's grandparents. The value thereforechanges according to a context (with whom the information is beingcommunicated) even for the same information.

In the high-speed network society, it is considered that individualusers or a community accumulates this kind of information and values.

Technology capable of expressing this kind of accumulated informationand values as a user community profile, and handling changes in theprofile due to the advancement of communication activities becomesextremely important.

By handling these kinds of profiles, it is possible for the user tounderstand their own experiences in accordance with relationship withtargets over a network.

Further, understanding of information by analyzing based on pastrelationships while searching new information is straightforward.Further, appropriate information distribution based on the experience ofa user himself/herself is also possible without publishing individualinformation of the user. A company may also understand relationshipsbetween users over a network and understand a value of its own productsin the community.

In related arts, technology paying attention to relationships withtargets of communication is disclosed in Japanese Laid-open PatentApplication Publication No. Hei. 11-296461 “System and Method forExchanging Information Between Users, User Terminal, Server Calculator,and Recording Medium Recorded With Inter-user Information ExchangeProgram”.

In this invention, support of communication activities is carried out bydescribing user characteristics using multi-dimensional vectors,calculating relevance between users from the multi-dimensional vectorsand expressing these on a terminal, and presenting the relationship thatthe users have.

This invention handles similarity of preferences but does not take intoconsideration what kind of value is provided due to communication with asubject of a certain relationship. Because of this, with the previousexample of a photograph, friends and relatives are handled as targetshaving the same similarity of preferences.

In addition to user preferences, technology taking into considerationinfluence is provided in Japanese Patent Application Publication No.2001-34625, “Document Information Providing Method, Document InformationProviding Device, and Storage Medium Recorded With Document InformationProviding Program”.

This invention is capable of giving a high value according to the topicof information recommended by users who tend to recommend information ofa certain value by expressing the dependency in user profiles thatpeople make recommendations to other people for items that theythemselves like.

Further, technology taking into consideration relationships betweenusers is described in “Information-Spread Model based on UsersRelevance” (12th Data Engineering Workshop (DEWS2001) and “theDistributed Information Collection System By Word-Of-Mouth” (10thWorkshop on Multi-agent and Cooperative Computation).

In this technology, information is filtered and information of value ispropagated by individual users being in possession of reliability withrespect to neighboring users for between neighboring users on a network,with information distribution then being carried out based on thisreliability. The inventions and technologies described above expressrelationships as profiles in order to promote flowing of onlyinformation having a value.

Further, an invention expressing user preferences in order to enablerecommendations according to context for a user is provided in JapanesePatent Application Publication 2001-155038 “User Preference InformationStructure having a Poly-hierarchal Structure and Multimedia InformationProviding Method Utilizing this Structure”. This invention enables theexpression of a degree of preference for information at home and adegree of preference for information at an office etc. using technologyfor user profiles having a hierarchical structure.

This invention enables the expression of user profiles for each deviceby cutting out part of a hierarchical structure etc. For example, it ispossible to carry out a description of “when a user is viewing a movieusing a television in a living room, a movie that can be watched by thefamily together is preferred, but when the user is watching a movieusing a television in his/her own room, there are cases where a moreadult-oriented movie may be preferred”. This may be referred to as aprofile expressing the relationship between devices and users.

However, these inventions and technologies to not take intoconsideration the expression of what kind of value is collected togetherat targets centered on in sets for relationships. Namely, communicationsoccurring at certain relationships mutually influence each other and itis not possible to handle changes in value possessed by informationoccurring as a result.

The object of the present invention is to provide an informationprocessing device etc. capable of dynamically handling changes occurringin value of information.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

In order to achieve the aforementioned object, the present inventionprovides an information management system relating to exchanging ofinformation carried out between a plurality of terminals via a network,wherein the terminals comprise: transmitting and receiving means fortransmitting and receiving information via the network from otherterminals; specifying means for specifying transmission and receptiontargets for information transmitted and received; and relationshipstructure generating means for, with respect to the transmitted andreceived information, generating relationship structures for betweeninformation possessed by the terminals for topic nodes correlated tocontent of the information and resource nodes specifying informationresources for the information by setting links expressing relationshipsreferencing between topic nodes or between topic nodes and resourcenodes for every specific transmission and reception target.

The relationship structure generating means is capable of updatingrelationship structures for transmission and reception targetsconstituting transmission sources of the information using themeta-information in a case where meta-information for setting topicnodes and links is attached to information received by the transmittingand receiving means.

The terminals can be equipped with meta-information generating means forgenerating meta-information for setting topic nodes relating toprescribed information and reference relationships using therelationship structures. The terminals may also be configured so that ina case where any terminal transmits information to another terminal,meta-information relating to the information is generated by themeta-information generating means, and the generated information isattached to the information and transmitted to the another terminal.

Value assigning means for assigning values to the topic nodes, changingmeans for changing values assigned to the topic nodes correlated to theinformation by the links according to utilization conditions in a casewhere the information is utilized, and value acquisition means foracquiring values of the topic nodes changed by the changing means mayalso be provided at the terminals.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention alsoprovides an information processing device equipped with storage meansfor storing, with regards to topic nodes correlated to content ofinformation and resource nodes specifying information resources forinformation, relationship structures for between the informationexpressed by setting links expressing reference relationships betweentopic nodes or between topic nodes and resource nodes, wherein therelationship structure comprises specific relationship structuresgenerated for each transmission and receiving target of the information,and overall relationship structures generated for all the information(first configuration).

Transmitting and receiving means for transmitting and receivinginformation via a network, specifying means for specifying transmissionand reception targets for the information using the transmitting andreceiving means, and updating means for, with respect to the specificrelationship structures for the specified transmitting and receivingtargets and the overall relationship structures, updating therelationship structures by adding topic nodes and resource nodesrelating to information transmitted and received by the transmitting andreceiving means and setting links for added topic nodes and resourcenodes may also be provided in the first configuration (secondconfiguration).

A configuration can be adopted with regards to the second configurationwhere, in a case of meta-information relating to the information contentbeing attached to information received by the transmitting and receivingmeans, generation of the topic nodes and setting of the links is carriedout using the meta-information.

In the first configuration, information relating to a transmission andreception targets constituting transmission sources of informationresources specified by the resource nodes is made to correlate to theresource nodes.

Further, in the second configuration, the configuration is such that, ina case where information received by the transmitting and receivingmeans contains reference information specifying a reference destinationfor information resources, information specifying a transmission andreception target constituting a transmission source of the informationand information specifying a transmission and reception targetconstituting a reference destination for the reference information ismade to correlate.

In the second configuration, it is possible to acquire requests forinformation transmission, and when an information transmission requestis received, it is possible to transmit the requested information.

It is also possible to configure the second configuration so that, inthe event of information transmission, meta-information is generatedusing at least one of specific relationship structures relating to thisinformation or overall relationship structures, with thismeta-information being attached to information for transmission.

Further, in the first configuration, a configuration can be adoptedwhere values are assigned to topic nodes, with the values then beingmade to change according to utilization conditions for the information.Topic node values then reflect information utilization conditions.

As a method of assigning values to topic nodes, it is possible to assignweightings to links set at topic nodes, and then to decide values fortopic nodes by appropriately calculating these weightings. It ispreferable to change weightings of nodes in cases where values of topicnodes are changed. More specifically, it is possible to propagatechanges in weightings of links by repeating a process of increasingweightings of links between resource nodes corresponding to utilizedinformation and topic nodes referenced to by the resource nodes andincreasing weightings of links between the topic nodes and other topicnodes set with links a prescribed number of times.

Further, a configuration can be adopted where settings for links withweightings that are less than a prescribed threshold value arecancelled. A configuration is also possible where topic nodes for whichlinks are no longer set as a result of canceling of links can bedeleted.

Further, in a case where received information contains referenceinformation specifying a reference destination for informationresources, and accesses are carried out to the information resourcesusing the reference information, specific relationship structures aregenerated with reference destinations constituting places of procurementfor the information resources.

Further, when values for the topic nodes satisfy prescribed conditions,preset information processing is executed at the topic nodes.

Moreover, in the second configuration, the information is incorporatedinto the received information based on the conditions in a case whereconditions for incorporating the information correlated at prescribedtopic nodes into the received information is contained in receivedinformation received by the transmitting and receiving means, and thereceived information and the information is presented using receivedinformation for which incorporation of the information by theincorporation means is complete.

Further, a configuration for visualizing and displaying the specificrelationship structures using a prescribed procedure is possible.

For example, similarity acquisition means for acquiring similaritiesbetween the specific relationship structures and the overallrelationship structures, and structure value acquisition means foracquiring structure values for the specific relationship structuresbased on values of topic nodes within the specific relationshipstructures may be provided, with the display means then arranging anddisplaying the specific relationship structures in space takingstructure values and similarity of specific relationship structures ascoordinate axes using the acquired similarities and the acquiredstructure values.

Further, the display means can display topic nodes arranged in spacetaking topic node utilization frequency and topic node values ascoordinate axes.

Moreover, it is possible to provide, with respect to informationprovided with a relationship structure containing sets of informationdescribing relationship structures for information content beforehandusing topic nodes set with links, similarity relationship structureacquisition means for acquiring, from the specific relationshipstructures, items that are most similar to relationship structures forinformation provided with the relationship structures, structure valueacquisition means for acquiring structure values for the acquiredspecific relationship structures based on values of topic nodes withinthe acquired specific relationship structures, and similarityacquisition means for acquiring similarities between the informationprovided with the relationship structures and the overall relationshipstructures, with the display means then displaying information providedwith relationship structures contained in the sets in space takingstructure values and similarity of specific relationship structures ascoordinate axes using the acquired structure values and the acquiredsimilarities.

Moreover, it is also possible to provide, with respect to informationprovided with relationship structures contained in sets of informationattached with a plurality of preset relationship structures, extractingmeans for matching each relationship structure attached to informationprovided with the relationship structures and the specific relationshipstructures and extracting specific relationship structures having thesame structure, similarity acquisition means for acquiring similaritiesbetween the extracted specific relationship structures and the overallrelationship structures, and structure value acquisition means foracquiring structure values of the extracted specific relationshipstructures, with the display means then displays information providedwith relationship structures contained in the sets in space takingstructure values and similarity of relationship structures as coordinateaxes using the acquired similarities and the acquired structure values.

In addition, at the display means, it is possible to choose relationshipstructures for each providing source utilized in the displaying of theinformation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a view showing an example of a network configuration of anembodiment.

FIG. 2 is a view showing an example of a functional configuration for aterminal.

FIG. 3 is a view showing an example of a functional configuration for acontent server.

FIG. 4 is a view schematically expressing a configuration for aninternal model.

FIG. 5 is a view expressing each relationship model of an internal modelgraphically.

FIG. 6 is a view showing an example of meta-information.

FIG. 7 is a view expressing meta-information graphically.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an operation in a case where aterminal receives information.

FIG. 9 is a view showing graphical expression of a relationship modelpossessed by a user A prior to receiving information from a user B.

FIG. 10 is a view showing an internal model generated as a result ofperforming an operation.

FIG. 11 is a view showing an updated internal model.

FIG. 12 is a view illustrating a case of sending a resource to anotherterminal.

FIG. 13 is a view showing an internal model for a user A before sendinginformation.

FIG. 14 is a view showing a relationship model for a user C afterupdating.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating processing in a case of updatinglink weightings.

FIG. 16 is a view illustrating weighting update processing.

FIG. 17 is a view showing a relationship model after updating.

FIG. 18 is a view schematically expressing a configuration fortransmitted information.

FIG. 19 is a view showing an internal model.

FIG. 20 is a view showing meta-information.

FIG. 21 is a view showing an internal model containing a topic nodeprior to activation.

FIG. 22 is a view showing an internal model for a case where a topicnode is activated.

FIG. 23 is a flowchart illustrating processing for activating invisibletopic nodes.

FIG. 24 is a view showing a configuration for communication controlmeans.

FIG. 25 is a view showing an example of an internal model.

FIG. 26 is a view showing a WEB page in which image data aresynthesized.

FIG. 27 is a flowchart illustrating steps in a case of personalizing aWEB page.

FIG. 28 shows where a relationship model is made visible.

FIG. 29 is a view illustrating transition of a screen displayed at adisplay.

FIG. 30 is a view showing an example of a relationship model editscreen.

FIG. 31 is a view showing an example of a relationship model editscreen.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

The following is a description of details of a preferred embodiment ofthe present invention.

(1) Outline of the Embodiment

The relationship between information for information possessed by acertain user is expressed using a relationship model. A relationshipmodel is a model where topic nodes expressing content of information arelinked in a hierarchical manner using links expressing referencerelationships. A relationship model is generated for each providerproviding information and generates an overall relationship structurefor all of the information.

A link to a resource node holding information specifying informationresources etc. is set at a lowermost topic node. In this embodiment,topic nodes are correlated in a hierarchical manner but the presentinvention is by no means limited in this respect, and other forms ofcorrelation are also possible.

A weighting is assigned to this link so that a value can be calculatedfor each topic node using just the weightings of nodes linking to topicnodes. This value is such that when user information is utilized, avalue for a topic node relating to this information is added. It cantherefore be known what information is of a high value to a user andwhat information provider is of a high value by using the topic nodes.

For example, in a case where a user utilizes certain information, as indisplaying image data, playing back music data, or sending certain datato other users, the value of this information and the value of theprovider of this information are increased. Change in value can bedynamically understood using a relationship model.

As a result, a profile for a target can be understood by using arelationship model expressing a relationship with a specific informationprovider and a relationship model for all of the information, and thestructure of these can then be dynamically changed from communicationactivity occurring between these relationships.

Communication activity is viewed as starting from when value is firstgenerated as a result of using the information, and changes in value ofinformation possessed by the user or information provided by the usercan then be handled through communication occurring for therelationships.

(2) Details of the Embodiment

FIG. 1 is a view showing an example of a network configuration of theembodiment. As shown in the drawings, in the embodiment, a contentserver 200 and terminals 100, 100, 100, . . . , are provided so as to beconnectable over a network 300. Only five terminals 100 are shown in thedrawings but it is possible for an arbitrary number of terminals 100 tobe connected over a network 300.

The content server 200 is capable of sending various content such asmusic content and movie content etc. to the terminals 100 via thenetwork 300.

In addition to being capable of exchanging information with the contentserver 200 via the network 300, the terminals 100 are capable ofexchanging information between terminals 100 via a mail server (notshown) etc.

For example, a user A may send image data to a user B, and the user Bmay further transfer this to a user C.

The terminal 100 is configured with a personal computer havingcommunication functions using the network 300, for example, but may alsobe a network-connectable game, portable terminal, or STP (Set Top Box)etc.

The network 300 may also intermediate the exchange of data using aprotocol for, for example, the Internet, such as TCP/IP (TransmissionControl Protocol/Internet Protocol).

In addition to the Internet, for example, a LAN (Local Area Network),WAN (Wide Area Network), optical cable network, or satellitecommunication network etc. may also be used as the network 300.

FIG. 2 is a view showing an example of a functional configuration forthe terminal 100. The terminals 100 are equipped with communicationcontrol means 102, communicating control means 103, relationship modeloperation means 104, resource storage means 105, relationship modelstorage means 106, relationship model visualizing means 107, file accesscontrol means 108, a browser 110, a mail application 111, animage/moving image viewer 112, and a music player 113, etc.

The terminals 100 are equipped with CPUs (Central Processing Unit) forcarrying out various arithmetic processing in accordance with prescribedprograms, a read/writable RAM (Random Access Memory) constituting astorage medium providing a working area for the CPU to carry outarithmetic processing for temporarily storing various data, a ROM (ReadOnly Memory) for storing in a manner only enabling reading programs etc.for causing the terminals 100 to function, and a storage device etc. forstoring various programs and data constituted by a hard disc etc.

Each of the structural elements shown in FIG. 2 are configured assoftware-based results of executing an information processing programstored on a hard disc etc. using a CPU.

Further, it is possible to configure part or all of each of theconfigurational elements from hardware as dedicated devices, etc.

The communication control means 102 controls the transmission andreception of data by the terminals 100 to the content server 200 andother WEB servers and main servers etc via the network 300. In thiscase, the communication control means 102 constitutes informationacquisition means and information transmission means.

The communicating control means 103 monitors the transmission andreception of data on the network 300 via the communication control means102. The transmission and reception of data may be through downloadingof content using the browser 110 or through transmission and receptionof an electronic mail using the mail application 111.

The browser 110 is a WWW browser for extracting information from filesetc. downloaded from the content server 200, with this information thenbeing utilized by a user.

For example, the browser 110 is capable of displaying WEB pages definedusing a prescribed language such as HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) ata display of a terminal 100.

Further, it is possible to access sites defined by a URL by inputtingURLs (Uniform Resource Locators) from the browser 110.

Moreover, when a URL is embedded in a WEB page, it is possible to jumpto a site specified by the URL by selecting this URL through clicking,etc.

The mail application 111 carries out transmission and reception ofelectronic mails. An electronic mail may be transmitted and receivedwith various information such as image data files, moving image data,audio data and text files etc. attached.

It is also possible, for example, to transmit an e-mail withoutattaching information directly to the e-mail but rather attachingreference information such as a URL.

When an electronic mail is transmitted, a destination mail address isinputted to the mail application 111 and a destination is specified.

The image/moving image viewer 112 plays back and displays on a displayimage data of various formats such as, for example, a bitmap format, anda JPEG format etc. and moving picture data of various formats such as anMPEG format and an AVI format, etc. Further, playback of audio datatakes place in a case where audio data is included in the moving imagedata.

The music player 113 plays back audio data of various formats such as,for example, a WAV format and an MP3 format, etc.

The file access control means 108 monitors utilization of resources bythe browser 110, the mail application 111, the image/moving image viewer112 and the music player 113, etc. As described in the following, inthis embodiment, the value of the resource is calculated based on thedegree of utilization by a user. Because of this, at the file accesscontrol means 108, it is possible to decide the value of the respectiveresources by understanding the extent to which resource has beenutilized.

Here, resources refer to information resources that are capable of beingutilized. Meta-information described in the following is informationattached to resources indicating the content of the resources. Further,there are also cases where a resource is information (for example, aURL) relating to locations where utilizable information exists.

The relationship model operation means 104 updates relationship models(described later) based on monitoring information from the file accesscontrol means 108, and carries out processing relating to relationshipmodels such as storing updated relationship models in the relationshipmodel storage means 106.

As described later, relationship models consist of specific relationshipmodels (specific relationship structures) generated for each party towhich information is transmitted to and received from, and an overallrelationship model (overall relationship structure) generated for allinformation taken as an operating target by the terminal 100. In thecase of transmitting and receiving information, the relationship modeloperation means 104 updates specific relationship models for the targetsof transmission and reception, and updates the overall relationshipmodels.

The relationship model storage means 106 is storage means for storingspecific relationship models and overall relationship models.

Further, in a case where a specific relationship model does not existfor the source and destination of the information, this is generatedanew.

The relationship model operation means 104 is configured fromrelationship structure generating means for generating relationshipmodels (relationship structures) and updating means for updating therelationship models.

The resource storage means 105 stores resources such as image data andaudio data etc. Further, there are also cases where data stored is notan actual resource but is reference information (URL etc.) for aresource stored on an external server, etc. In this case, a referenceresource constituting a virtual resource holding reference informationfor the resource is generated and stored in the resource storage means105.

The relationship model visualizing means 107 then makes data providedfrom outside of the terminal 100 visualizable using visualizing of therelationship model itself and the relationship model based on therelationship model stored in the relationship model storage means 106.

In this embodiment, the data made visualizable is converted to a formthat is viewable using the browser 110 and the user may then makeobservations using the browser 110.

FIG. 3 is a view showing an example of a functional configuration forthe content server 200. The content server 200 is equipped withcommunication control means 201, relationship model operation means 202,relationship model storage means 203, content providing means 204,relationship model analysis means 205, and communicating control means206, etc. The hardware configuration for the content server 200 isbasically similar to that of the terminal 100.

The communication control means 201 controls communication with theterminals 100 via the network 300. The content server 200 is capable ofreceiving content transmission requests from the terminals 100 andsending content to the terminals 100 using the communication controlmeans 201. The communication control means 201 constitutestransmission/receiving means, and transmission request acquisitionmeans.

When there is an access from the terminal 100, the communication controlmeans 201 requests input of passwords set for each user etc. so as to beable to identify the user. In this case, the communication control means201 constitutes specifying means for specifying a source of a contenttransmission request and a destination for the content.

The communicating control means 206 monitors accesses to the contentproviding means 204 by users.

The content to be monitored is users making accesses, access time, andtransmission content, etc.

The content providing means 204 manages content provided to users by thecontent server 200. The content providing means 204 corresponds to a WEBserver in a case of a corporate WEB site. Further, a content server suchas a bulletin board system etc. where content is dynamically formed frominformation provided by users is also possible.

The relationship model operation means 202 updates relationship modelsbased on information monitored by the communicating control means 206.As described later, relationship models include specific relationshipmodels generated for each party to which information is transmitted toand received from, and an overall relationship model generated for allinformation taken as an operating target by the content server 200. In acase of transmitting content, the relationship model operation means 202updates specific relationship models for the targets of transmission,and updates the overall relationship models. This processing is similarto the processing carried out by the relationship model operation means104 of the terminal 100.

The relationship model storage means 203 stores relationship models.Specific relationship models generated by the content server 200 aregenerated mainly for each of the users to which content is sent.

In addition to having the functions similar to those of the relationshipmodel visualizing means 107 that the terminals 100 are provided with,the relationship model analysis means 205 also has a relationship modelsearch (browse) function.

FIG. 4 is a view schematically expressing a configuration for aninternal model 500 generated at a terminal 100 of a user A.

The internal model 500 is comprised of an overall relationship model 505expressing an overall resource relationship, a specific relationshipmodel (relationship models such as a relationship model 501 for a userB, relationship model 513 for a user C, . . . , etc. generated for eachspecific user), and a resource set 519 constituting a set of resourcenodes.

Hereafter, in a case where the overall relationship model and thespecific relationship model are not particularly discriminated between,they are simply referred to as relationship models.

FIG. 5 is a view expressing each relationship model of the internalmodel 500 graphically.

The relationship model may be described using, for example, XML(Extensible Markup Language) and stored in the relationship modelstorage means 106.

The relationship model can be considered to be an object expressing therelationship structure of information possessed by a user.

Each relationship model is expressed using a topic node and referenceinformation (hereinafter referred to as resource node referenceinformation) to the resource nodes of the resource set 519.

With topic nodes having relationships, reference relationships are setin a hierarchical manner using links, with resource node referenceinformation being set at the lowermost layer. Each item of resource nodereference information sets links in relation to topic nodes.

Here, a link expresses reference relationships between topic nodeswithin the same relationship model or between topic nodes and resourcenodes.

Keywords expressing topics (expressing resource content) are assigned ina corresponding manner at the topic nodes, and links expressingreference relationships with topic nodes that relate are provided.

For example, a relationship model 501 for a user B is comprised of topicnodes 502 and 503, and resource node reference information 504, with akeyword “photograph” being assigned to correspond to the topic node 502and a keyword “mountain” being assigned to correspond to the topic node503. A link is set between the topic node 502 and the topic node 503,and a link is set between the topic node 503 and the resource nodereference information 504. It is then possible to know the content of aresource through the keyword.

Each relationship model is made to correlate with a source node usingthe resource node reference information.

For example, the resource node-reference information 504 holds referenceinformation to a resource node 520 in the resource set 519.

Further, resource node reference information 510 for an overallrelationship model 505 and resource node reference information 517 for arelationship model 513 for the user C hold information referencing tothe resource node 520.

The resource set 519 is a resource node set holding referenceinformation for resources stored in the resource storage means 105.Further, the resource node also holds information specifying a providerfor the information. It is possible to specify information resourcesusing reference information held by a resource node.

It is therefore possible to collectively manage resource nodes by notincluding resource nodes in individual relationship models but rathercollecting resource nodes together at the resource set 519.

When resources are generated by a person himself/herself rather thanbeing acquired from other users, then the resource provider becomes theperson himself/herself.

Similarly, topic nodes 507 and 508 are set below the topic node 506 atthe overall relationship model 505. The resource node referenceinformation 510 is set to link to a topic node 507. A topic node 508 isset to have a link to resource node reference information 511. Further,the topic node 507 is set to have a link to resource node referenceinformation 510.

Moreover, a topic node 509 is set with links to the resource nodereference information 511 and resource node reference information 512.

A keyword “photograph” is set in relation to the topic node 506, andkeywords “mountain”, “winter mountain”, and “Komagatake” are set attopic nodes 507, 508, and 509, respectively.

A set keyword is hereinafter expressed within brackets after the topicnode as with topic node 506 (photographs).

In relation to the relationship model 513 for C, topic nodes 515(mountain) and 516 (winter mountain) are set below the topic node 514(photographs), and resource node reference information 517 and 518 isset below the topic nodes 515 and 516.

The overall relationship model 505 is generated using each specificrelationship model, and although not shown in the drawings, links areset between each topic node of the overall relationship model 505 andtopic nodes within specific relationship models taken to be sourcesgenerating these topic nodes.

The overall relationship model 505 can be said to be a relationshipmodel for a user to which an internal model 500 belongs.

Links linking between topic nodes or topic nodes and source nodereference information hold numerical information expressing weightingsof the respective links.

As described in the following, when a resource is utilized by a user, alink weighting linking to a topic node correlated to this resource isadded.

It is then possible to calculate the degree of influence on each topicnode (a score expressing the height of a value felt by a user) byutilizing the weightings held by these links. Further, it is alsopossible to calculate a target (for other users) value for a userholding this internal model by calculating a degree of influence of atopic node within a specific relationship model because specificrelationship models are generated for each target (the user B, the userC, etc.).

Namely, targets that provide resources that are used a lot by a user areconsidered to be of higher value to the user.

It is therefore possible to assign values to a topic node and arelationship model, so that these may be handled quantitatively. Thisdegree of influence is generated by utilization of information(including moving). This assigning of values to the relationship modelis carried out by the relationship model operation means 104, and inthis case the relationship model operation means 104 is comprised ofvalue assigning means.

When each relationship model is described using XML, the relationshipmodel analysis means 205 of the content server 200 implements arelationship model search function using an XQuery (XML Query Language).

Next, a description is given of generation of the internal model 500. Inthis embodiment, a terminal 100 is equipped with means for identifyingusers on the network 300, and is capable of specifying subjects ofcommunication.

Publicly known technology is used as the technology for specifying thesubject of this kind of communication. The terminals 100 are equippedwith specifying means for specifying a source and a destination forinformation.

In this embodiment, it is sufficient for a user to be distinguished onlywithin each relationship model, and it is not necessary to unifymanagement of the user information (internal model 500 etc.) using aspecific server on the network 300.

The target of communication is by no means limited to other users, andmay also be specific communities (in reality, community managementsites) or specific enterprises such as music distribution companies,etc.

Meta-information (described later) appropriately describing informationcontent is made to accompany information sent and received between theuser and the communication subject as tag information.

For example, with moving images, a method of describing meta-informationexpressing resource content using methods such as MPEG-7 is possible.

In a case of text information such as an electronic mail etc., wheremeta-information such as electronic mail etc. is not described, it ispossible to make the necessary data structure by applying well-knowntechnology for extracting the topic structure of text as a graphstructure to the communication control means 103.

Such technology may be, for example, “KeyGraph: Automatic Indexing byCo-occurrence Graph based on Building Construction Metaphor: Researchand Technology Advances in Digital Libraries, 1998”.

FIG. 6 is a view showing an example of meta-information. Thismeta-information is what is exchanged, at the time when an image datawith a file name “image.jpg” between users, being attached with theimage data. In this example, meta-information is described using XML.

FIG. 7 is a view expressing this meta-information graphically. As shownin the drawings, links are set from resource node reference information528 to topic nodes 526 (winter mountain) and 527 (Komagatake), with afurther link being set from the topic node 526 (winter mountain) to atopic node 525 (photographs).

It is then possible to update the overall relationship model and thespecific relationship model using this kind of meta-information.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an operation in a case where theterminal 100 receives information.

First, information is received at the terminal 100 (step 5). Thisreceived information is then passed over from the communicating controlmeans 103 to the relationship model operation means 104. At the sametime, the received information is passed over to corresponding browsingsoftware (the browser 110, the mail application 111, the image/movingimage viewer 112, the music player 113, etc.) to enable browsing.

Next, the relationship model operation means 104 determines whether ornot resource information is present in the received information (step10). There are cases where the received information is accompanied byresources and cases where the received information is accompanied byreference information (URLs etc.) for resources existing at externalcontent servers etc. In the case of the latter, resources are notpresent in the received information.

When a resource is present in the received information (step 10; Y), theresource is stored in the resource storage means 105, and informationreferencing to the resource in the meta-information is re-written withinformation referencing to the resource stored in the resource storagemeans 105 (step 20).

When there is no resource within the received information, therelationship model operation means 104 makes a reference resourceconstituted by a virtual resource comprised of information referencingto the resource and stores this in the resource storage means 105 andre-writes the resource reference information in the meta-informationwith information referencing to the reference resource stored in theresource storage means 105 (step 15).

Next, the relationship model operation means 104 carries out arelationship model operation based on meta-information in the receivedinformation.

First, a set of topic nodes Rnew present in the meta-information but notpresent in the relationship model for the provider of the information(taken to be relationship model R) is made (step 25).

Next, the relationship model operation means 104 determines whether ornot Rnew is an empty set (step 30).

In a case where it is determined that Rnew is not an empty set (step 30;N), the relationship model operation means 104 extracts an arbitrarytopic node Ti from Rnew (step 35).

Next, the relationship model operation means 104 adds a topic node Tricorresponding to Ti to the relationship model R (step 40). Namely, ifthe topic node Ti is “winter mountain”, the topic node “winter mountain”is added to the relationship model R. A link weighting is also set atthis time.

Next, the relationship model operation means 104 determines whether ornot the topic node corresponding to Tri is present in the overallrelationship model (taken to be relationship model M) (step 45).

In a case where the topic node corresponding to Tri does not exist inthe overall relationship model M (step 45; N), the relationship modeloperation means 104 adds the topic node corresponding to Tri to theoverall relationship model M (step 50).

Reference information for topic nodes corresponding to the relationshipmodel R are then made from topic nodes corresponding to Tri of theoverall relationship model (step 55).

In a case where a topic node corresponding to Tri exists in the overallrelationship model (step 45; Y), the process goes to step 55.

In step 30, when the relationship model operation means 104 determinesthat Rnew is an empty set, i.e. in a case where adding of all topicnodes within Rnew is finished (step 30; Y), topic nodes, of the topicnodes corresponding to topic nodes contained in the receivedinformation, contained in the relationship model for the informationsender, have frequency information incremented for topic nodes containedin the overall relationship model (step 60). As a result, theinformation receiving processing is complete.

Frequency information is used in a case of visualizing the relationshipmodel later, etc.

In the above processing, it is possible to determine correspondence of atopic node by determining whether or not keywords of the topic nodesmatch. In addition, methods such as selecting topic nodes expressing thesame topics using dictionary data etc. or adopting topic nodes havingthe same links as corresponding topic nodes based on topic node linksare also possible as methods for deciding corresponding topic nodes.

In a case where the received information is not accompanied bymeta-information, the user may create topic nodes and set linksmanually.

A specific example of the procedure described above is now describedwith reference to FIG. 6, FIG. 9 and FIG. 10.

FIG. 9 is a view showing a graphical representation of an overallrelationship model 540 and a relationship model 541 of the internalmodel possessed by a user A before receiving information from a user B.In the following, the relationship model is expressed using a graphicalrepresentation.

As shown in FIG. 9, the overall relationship model 540 is such thatlinks to a topic node 531 (sea) and to a topic node 532 (mountain) areset for a topic node 530 (photographs). Further a link to resource nodereference information 533 is set as a link at the topic node 532(mountain). The resource node reference information 533 holds referenceinformation to a resource node 537.

The relationship model 541 for B is set with a link for between a topicnode 534 (photographs) and a topic node 535 (mountain), and a furtherlink is set between the topic node 535 (mountain) and resource nodereference information 536. The resource node reference information 536holds reference information to the resource node 537.

A case is now considered where the terminal 100 of the user A for whomthe internal model is configured in the above manner receives receivedinformation accompanied by the meta-information shown in FIG. 7 from theuser B.

The relationship model operation means 104 adds the topic node 526(winter mountain) and the topic node 527 (Komagatake) not contained inthe relationship model 541 for B to Rnew. Next, the relationship modeloperation means 104 repeats an operation of extracting elements for Rnewand adding nodes to the overall relationship model 540 and therelationship model 541 for B until all of the elements of Rnew are gone.

FIG. 10 is a view showing an internal model generated as a result ofperforming the above operation on the internal model of FIG. 9.

The relationship model operation means 104 extracts the topic node 526(winter mountain) from Rnew.

In doing so, the relationship model operation means 104 adds a topicnode 543 (winter mountain) corresponding to the topic node 526 (wintermountain) to the relationship model 541 for B.

At this time, reference information to the topic node 525 (photographs)recorded in the received reference information is added to a topic nodecorresponding to the topic node 534 (photographs) of the relationshipmodel 541 for B as a link, and an initial value is set for the linkweighting. In this embodiment, this initial value is taken to be 1.

A new topic node 543 (winter mountain) is set below the topic node 534(photographs) at a relationship model 541 a for B updated by therelationship model operation means 104.

In addition, a resource node 545 attached to the received information isadded to the resource storage means 105.

In a case where the received information is not accompanied by aresource but rather is accompanied by information referencing to aresource, a reference resource holding this reference information isgenerated and stored in the resource storage means 105. The resourcenode 545 holds information specifying this reference resource node.

Next, it is confirmed whether or not a node corresponding to the topicnode 526 (winter mountain) exists for the overall relationship model540. If this is not the case, an operation of adding a topic nodecorresponding to “winter mountain” to the overall relationship model 540is carried out.

Reference information to topic node 543 (winter mountain) made at arelationship model 541 a for B is then made from a topic nodecorresponding to the topic node 526 (winter mountain) generated by theoverall relationship model 540 so that both parties are made tocorrelate with each other.

In a case where the operation is finished for the topic node 526 (wintermountain), the relationship model operation means 104 carries out asimilar processing for the other topic node 527 (Komagatake) in Rnew.

FIG. 11 is a view showing an updated internal model resulting from theabove processing.

A topic node 547 (winter mountain), a topic node 548 (Komagatake) andresource node reference information 549 are added to an overallrelationship model 540 a. The resource node reference information 549holds reference information to the resource node 545.

A topic node 543 (winter mountain), a topic node 546 (Komagatake) andresource node reference information 544 are added to a relationshipmodel 541 a for B. The resource node reference information 544 holdsreference information to the resource node 545.

Next, a description is given, using FIG. 12, of relationship modelprocessing in a case of sending resources within the terminal 100 toanother terminal.

Here, it is taken that a relationship model is formed using topic nodesand resource nodes present within the relationship model stored in theterminal 100 on the information transmission side with respect totransmitted resources.

First, information sent by the user is made (step 105).

For example, when the user A has sent a resource (for example, imagedata) received from another user in the past to another user byelectronic mail, the user A carries out an operation of selecting thecorresponding resource from a storage device such as a hard disc etc.within the terminal 100 and attaching the resource. At this time, thefollowing processing is carried out within the terminal 100.

First, the file access control means 108 monitors accesses to filesstoring resources such as image data etc. and acquires information as towhich file the user accessed. The acquired information can then be usedto increase the value of accessed files.

On the other hand, the relationship model storage means 106 searchesresources stored in the resource storage means 105 for attachment totransmitted information. The relationship model storage means 106 thenacquires meta-information relating to the resources from the resourcestorage means 105 and adds this to the transmitted information asresource meta-information. Meta-information can be made by partialextraction etc. of resource node reference information correlating withthe resources and the topic nodes etc. In this way, the resource storagemeans 105 constitutes meta-information generating means.

It is also possible for a user to attach meta-information to transmittedinformation themselves when provided with a tool for editingmeta-information.

Next, the relationship model operation means 104 generates a set Rnew oftopic nodes not contained in the relationship model (taken to berelationship model R) for the transmission subject from the transmittedtopic nodes (step 110).

Next, the relationship model operation means 104 determines whether ornot Rnew is an empty set (step 115).

In a case where it is determined that Rnew is not an empty set (step115; N), the relationship model operation means 104 extracts anarbitrary topic node Ti from Rnew (step 120).

Next, the relationship model operation means 104 adds a topic node Tricorresponding to Ti to the relationship model R (step 125). Namely, ifthe topic node Ti is, for example, “Komagatake”, the topic node“Komagatake” is added to the relationship model R.

A link to resource node reference information for the resource nodereferenced to by the topic node is then generated from the newly addedtopic node and an initial value for weighting is assigned to the link.

Next, the relationship model operation means 104 generates referenceinformation to Tri from a node corresponding to Ti within the overallreference model (step 130). Namely, for example, when the topic node“Komagatake” is generated at the relationship model R, referenceinformation to “Komagatake” within the relationship model R is made fromthe topic node “Komagatake” for the overall relationship model.

The process for the relationship model operation means 104 then returnsto step 115 and the same processing is carried out for other elementswithin Rnew.

In a case where the relationship model operation means 104 determines instep 115 that Rnew is an empty set, i.e. in a case where processing ofall of the elements within Rnew is complete (step 115; Y), frequencyinformation is incremented so as to be updated for topic nodes, of thetopic nodes contained in the transmitted information, corresponding towithin the overall relationship model and the relationship model R (step135).

Next, after updating the overall relationship model and the relationshipmodel R, the relationship model operation means 104 updates theweighting assigned to the link (step 140) and processing is complete.

Weighting updating is carried out on the relationship model for thetransmission subject, the relationship model for a provider of thetransmitted information, and the overall relationship model.

For example, in a case where image data acquired from the user B istransmitted to the user C, weightings are added to the relationshipmodel for the user B and the overall relationship model, and the valueof the user B is increased. Details of the weighting updating method aredescribed later.

Processing carried out at the time of the above information transmissionis described using FIG. 13 and FIG. 14 taking an example of a case ofthe user A transmitting Komagatake image data to the user C.

FIG. 13 is a view showing an internal model for the user A beforesending information. An overall relationship model 540 b isapproximately the same as the overall relationship model 540 a shown inFIG. 11.

At a relationship model 550 for the user C, a topic node 553 (mountain)and a topic node 554 (winter mountain) are set below a topic node 552(photographs). Resource node reference information 555 is set below thetopic node 553 (mountain), and resource node reference information 556is set below the topic node 554 (winter mountain).

The resource node reference information 555 holds reference informationto a resource node 545, and the resource node reference information 556holds reference information to a resource node 558.

Here, for example, it is assumed that the user A transmits transmissioninformation with the meta-information shown in FIG. 7 attached to theuser C.

This meta-information is made by linking and extracting the topic node530 (photographs), the topic node 547 (winter mountain), the topic node548 (Komagatake), and resource node reference information 549 from theoverall relationship model 540 b. In this way, a topic node can beutilized as meta-information made to accompany information to beexchanged.

The making of meta-information can therefore be achieved by partiallyextracting relationship structures relating to the transmitted resourcesfrom the relationship models.

First, the relationship model operation means 104 makes a node set Rnewtaking nodes existing in the meta-information for which nodescorresponding to the relationship model 550 do not exist for the user Cas elements. Here, topic node 527 (Komagatake) is extracted as anelement because a topic node corresponding to topic node 527(Komagatake) does not exist in the relationship model 550 for user C.

Next, the relationship model operation means 104 adds a topic nodecorresponding to the topic node 527 (Komagatake) to the relationshipmodel 550 for the user C. As a result, the relationship model 550 forthe user C is updated as shown by the relationship model 550 b for theuser C shown in FIG. 14. A topic node 559 (Komagatake) is added at therelationship model 550 b for the user C.

A link is then set for the topic node 527 (Komagatake) and the topicnode 526 (winter mountain) with respect to the resource node referenceinformation 528 at the meta-information shown in FIG. 7. Therelationship model operation means 104 then sets links between the topicnode 559 (Komagatake) and the resource node reference information 556,and between the topic node 554 (winter mountain) and the resource nodereference information 556 using this information.

An initial value (for example, 1) for weighting is assigned to therelationship model 104 and at the link set for between the topic node559 (Komagatake) and the resource node reference information 556.

In the above example, the element for Rnew is only topic node 527(Komagatake). Therefore, after adding the topic node 559 (Komagatake),the relationship model operation means 104 makes information referencingto the topic node 559 (Komagatake) from the topic node 548 (Komagatake)constituting the corresponding node within the overall relationshipmodel 540, and similarly updates frequency information at the time ofreceiving the information.

Next, the relationship model operation means 104 updates the weightingassigned to the link. In the current case, the weightings of prescribedlinks within the overall relationship model 540 b are updated. And inaddition thereto, in a case where a transmission information resource istransmitted from another user (information provider) to the user A, theweighting of the relationship model link for the information provider isupdated, and the value of the information provider is increased.

Next, a description is given of a method for updating the weightingsassigned to the links.

Updating of weighting is carried out when resources are utilized.Utilization of resources takes place when, for example, music data isplayed back by the music player 113, image data is displayed at theimage/moving image viewer 112, or when resources are sent to otherusers, etc.

The influence of each topic node is expressed by the sum of weighting ofnodes to which each topic node references. As is described later, theinfluence of topic nodes can be utilized as an index while evaluatingthe value etc. of resources.

Further, in addition to the sum of weightings of nodes to which eachtopic node references, influence may also be expressed using appropriatefunctions taking these weightings as input values.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating processing in a case of updatinglink weightings.

First, the relationship model operation means 104 acquires informationspecifying resources utilized from updating of weighting of a link on aprevious occasion up to the current time from the file access controlmeans 108.

Link weighting update processing may be carried out each time a resourceis utilized, or may be carried out at fixed periods. Alternatively, thenumber of times of utilizing resources may also be updated each time aprescribed value is reached.

The relationship model operation means 104 generates a set CD takingutilized resources as elements using information acquired from the fileaccess control means 108 (step 302).

Next, the relationship model operation means 104 determines whether ornot CD is an empty set (step 305).

When it is determined that CD is not an empty set (step 305; N),arbitrary elements Di are extracted from CD (step 310).

Next, the relationship model operation means 104 adds the extracted Dito the set D.

Resource provider information is then collected for resourcesconstituting elements within the set CD and this is added to the set Pof the resource provider (step 315).

A resource provider is the user that transmitted the resource or theuser that transmitted the resource reference information.

Thereafter, the relationship model operation means 104 repeats the aboveprocess until the set CD becomes an empty set.

If it is determined that the relationship model operation means 104 isan empty set (step 305; Y), it is further determined as to whether ornot the set P is an empty set (step 320).

If the set P is not an empty set (step 320; N), the relationship modeloperation means 104 extracts an arbitrary element Pi from the set P(step 325). It can be understood that it is preferable to update whichusers, of the internal model, the relationship model takes as targets,using this element Pi.

Next, the relationship model operation means 104 updates the weightings(step 330) assigned to links for the relationship model for theextracted element Pi (expressing the user).

Updating of weighting is carried out, for example, as follows. Adetermination is made for the relationship model for the element Pi(user) as to whether or not a resource node holding referenceinformation to an element Di of set D is present.

If a resource node holding information referencing to the Di is present,the weighting assigned to links between this resource node and the topicnode set with this link is updated so as to be increased by a prescribednumber (for example, 1). Further, weightings assigned for links betweenthis topic node and other topic nodes set with this link are similarlyupdated. The topic node is then similarly gone back to a prescribednumber of times (for example, three), and weighting assigned to the linkduring this time is similarly updated.

Thereafter, the relationship model operation means 104 repeats the aboveupdating processing on the element Pi until the set P becomes an emptyset.

If the set P is determined to be an empty set, i.e. if the relationshipmodel has been updated for all Pi, the relationship model operationmeans 104 carries out link weighting updating for the overallrelationship model (step 335). Updating of this weighting is carriedout, for example, as follows.

The relationship model operation means 104 determines whether or notreference information for the element Di of the set D of the resourcenodes for the overall relationship model is held.

In a case where, of the resource nodes, reference information for theelement Di is held, weightings assigned to the links are updated in asame manner as in step 330. Namely, the links are gone back a prescribednumber of times taking this resource node as a starting point and theweightings assigned to these links are increased by just a prescribednumber of times.

Next, the relationship model operation means 104 deletes links linkingtopic nodes in the overall relationship model for which the weighting isless than a predetermined threshold value (step 340).

Here, link weighting is set so as to reduce with time, so thatweightings of links relating to resources that are not used so often canbe set to become small in accordance with time lapsing. As a result, itis possible to delete links relating to resources that are not usedusing step 340.

Next, if topic nodes which do not have links occur as a result ofdeleting the links, the relationship model operation means 104 deletesthese topic nodes (step 345) and processing is complete.

The link weighting updating method is by no means limited to the above,and other methods may also be used. A weighting updating method may be,for example, the active propagation model (P. Pirolli, J. Pitkow, R.Rao; Silk from a Sow's Ear: Extracting Usable Structures from the Web,CHI-96).

In the active propagation model, an incidence matrix is generated bycombining specific relationship models and overall relationship models.In the incidence matrix, connections between topic nodes and connectionsbetween topic nodes and resources are expressed using a matrix.

In a case where a resource is utilized in this model, an active value isinputted from the resource and made to propagate in the incidencematrix. In the active propagation model, it is possible to updateweightings of links for the whole model without individually updatingweightings of nodes for individual relationship models. For example, inan example in FIG. 16, active values are inputted for a link 561 and alink 568.

FIG. 16 is a view illustrating weighting update processing.

FIG. 16 shows an internal model for a user A. The internal model for theuser A is taken to be configured from a relationship model 581 for theuser B, a relationship model 583 for the user C, and an overallrelationship model 582. Further, it is assumed that resource nodereference information 552, 553 and 554 are to hold informationreferencing to a resource node 551.

It is assumed that the user C is to be a provider of a resourcereferenced to by the resource node 551. The user A is assumed totransmit a resource 551 a transmitted from the user C to the user B.

Further, the relationship model 581 for the user B and the overallrelationship model 582 are assumed to be updated according to theflowchart of FIG. 8.

At this time, an element of a set CD is {resource 551 a} and an elementof a set P is {C}.

The relationship model operation means 104 extracts element “C” from theset P, and as a result, recognizes a relationship model 583 for C as atarget of weighting update processing.

The relationship model operation means 104 specifies resource nodereference information 554, of the relationship model 583 for C, holdingreference information for the resource node 551. The weighting of thelink 568 between the resource node reference information 554 and thetopic node 575 (winter mountain) set with a relationship referencingwith this node is then increased by a prescribed value. Next, theweighting of a link 566 for between topic node 575 (winter mountain) andtopic node 576 (photographs) for which a relationship referencing withthis node is set is increased by just a prescribed value.

Further, the weighting of a link 567 for between topic node 576(photographs) and topic node 577 (mountain) for which a relationshipreferencing with this node is set is increased by just a prescribedvalue.

In this way, the relationship model operation means 104 then goes backto the topic nodes three times along the links taking the resource nodereference information 554 as a starting point, so as to update theweightings assigned to the links.

Next, the relationship model operation means 104 specifies the resourcenode reference information 553, of the overall relationship model 582,holding reference information for the resource node 551, as a startingpoint for weighting update processing.

First, weighting of the link 561 between the resource node referenceinformation 553 and the topic node 570 (winter mountain) set with arelationship referencing with this then being increased by a prescribedvalue.

Next, the weighting of a link 562 for between the topic node 570 (wintermountain) and the topic node 571 (photographs) for which a relationshipreferencing with this node is set is increased by just a prescribedvalue.

Next, the weightings of the links 563, 564 for between the topic node571 (photographs), the topic node 572 (sea) for which a relationshipreferencing with this node is set, and the topic node 573 (mountain),are increased by just a prescribed value.

The relationship model operation means 104 then goes back to the topicnodes three times along the links taking the resource node referenceinformation 553 as a starting point, so as to update the weightingsassigned to the links.

Further, the relationship model operation means 104 then increases theweighting of a link 565 between the resource node reference information553 and the topic node 574 (Komagatake) set with a relationshipreferencing with this node by a prescribed value. As there is no topicnode for which a link is set for the topic node 574 (Komagatake) theupdating of weighting relating to the topic node 574 (Komagatake) endsat this point.

As described above, the relationship model operation means 104constitutes value assigning means for assigning values to topic nodes,changing means for changing these values, node value acquisition meansfor acquiring values of topic nodes, link specifying means forspecifying links of a link weighting less than a prescribed thresholdvalue, canceling means for canceling reference relationships using forlinks specified by the link specifying means, and deleting means fordeleting topic nodes for which referencing topic nodes and resourcenodes do not exist.

Next, a description is given of updating of a relationship model for acase of a method utilizing a reference resource.

In a case of utilizing a reference resource, after a user receivesresource reference information from another user etc., actual resourcesare accessed using this reference information.

For example, when a URL for downloading a certain song is received froma friend, a content server site for distributing this music is accessedusing this URL and the song is downloaded.

In this way, in the case of utilizing a reference resource, in additionto updating the relationship mode with respect to the user sending thisreference information, it is also necessary to update the relationshipmodel with respect to the site that is the destination of thisreference.

It is assumed that an internal model 600 shown in FIG. 17 is held at theterminal 100 of the user A.

The state of the relationship model of FIG. 17 shows a state wheremeta-information for a song “summer” and reference information to thesong “summer” are received from the user B and where updating has takenplace.

At an overall relationship model 602, links are set at a topic node 605(JPOP), a topic node 606 (artist A), a topic node 607 (summer), andresource node reference information 608.

The resource node reference information 608 also holds referenceinformation to the resource node 610. The resource node 610 holdsreference information to a reference resource generated based on thereference information to the song “summer” received from the user B andinformation specifying the user B being a provider of the information.

A topic node 613 (artist A), a topic node 614 (summer) and resource nodereference information 615 are set as links at a relationship model 604for B. The resource node reference information 615 also holds referenceinformation to the resource node 610.

It is then assumed that the user A receives the song “summer” from asite A of a content server 200 using the reference information held bythe reference resource specified by the reference information held bythe resource node 610.

FIG. 18 is a view schematically expressing a structure ofmeta-information 622 sent so as to accompany the resource for the song“summer” in a case where the site A sends the song “summer”.

The meta-information 622 is comprised of a topic node 618 (artist A), atopic node 619 (album “four seasons”), a topic node 620 (summer) and aresource node 621.

After the meta-information 622 is received, the relationship modeloperation means 104 updates the internal model 600 and generates aninternal model 600 a shown in FIG. 19.

A topic node 609 (album “four seasons”) is inserted between the topicnode 606 (artist A) and the topic node 607 (summer) in an overallrelationship model 602 a. A relationship model 629 can then be generatedfor the site A of the content server 200.

At the relationship model 629 for the site A, in the meta-information622, a topic node 625 (artist A), a topic node 626 (album “fourseasons”), a topic node 627 (summer), and resource node referenceinformation 628, corresponding to the topic node 618 (artist A), thetopic node 619 (album “four seasons”), the topic node 620 (summer) andthe resource node 621, respectively, are generated by the relationshipmodel operation means 104.

The resource node reference information 628 holds reference informationto the resource node 610 a.

The resource node 610 a is obtained by replacing the resource node 610with the resource node 621.

In addition to the reference information for the downloaded resources,the resource node 621 holds information specifying the user B and thesite A.

In this way, in cases where resources are accessed using a referenceresource, in addition to information specifying the information providerof information taken as the source for making the reference source,information specifying resource access destinations is held at theresource node.

The relationship model operation means 104 then updates weightingsassigned to links for the relationship model 629 for the updated site A,the overall relationship model 602 a, and the relationship model 604 forB.

In this way, in a case where resources are accessed using a referenceresource, in addition to increasing the value of the informationprovider of the information taken as a source for making this referenceresource, the value of the destination of this resource also increases.

Next, a description is given of an information pushing method forproviding useful information to users using relationship models.

The site A of the content server 200 is assumed to hold meta-informationrelating to a plurality of albums and songs of the artist A. At thistime, if the value of a song within these songs is felt to be high by auser, it is possible to invite the user to purchase songs byrecommending other songs of the artist A to the user.

In a case where a topic value is being made high as a result of updatingweighting assigned to a link, it is possible to push the followinginformation.

Now, it is assumed that the user makes a request to the site A fortransmission of the song “summer”. At this time, the meta-informationshown in FIG. 20 is assumed to be held at the site A.

Namely, a topic node 630 (artist A), a topic node 631 (album “fourseasons”), a topic node 632 (summer), and a resource node 633 (summer)are connected through direct linking, a topic node 634 (album“Christmas”) is derived from the topic node 631 (album “four seasons”),and a topic node 635 (memories) and a resource node 636 (memories) arederived from the topic node 631 (album “four seasons”).

There are various methods for determining which portion of themeta-information the site A sends in line with the song “summer”.However, in this embodiment, information obtained by following a directlink from the resource node to the artist information is sent as a topicnode, with this then being sent as an invisible topic node provided withactivation conditions for nodes derived from the topic node.

In this way, the topic nodes 630, 631 and 632 are sent as usual topicnodes, and the topic nodes 634 and 635 are sent as the invisible topicnodes conferred upon the activation information.

Herein, activation information is information defining activationconditions for changing invisible topic nodes to typical topic nodes,and behavior at that time.

In this embodiment, in cases where influence (value) of the topic nodeset with a link to an invisible topic node satisfies predeterminedconditions, a message is presented to the user. Presentation of amessage is carried out via software used by the user at that time. Thisfunction is implemented by the communicating control means 103. In thiscase, when the topic node satisfies prescribed conditions, thecommunicating control means 103 is configured from execution means forexecuting information processing preset at the topic node.

FIG. 21 is a view showing an internal model for terminal 100 updatedusing the meta-information shown in FIG. 20.

A relationship model 647 for the site A corresponds to themeta-information shown in FIG. 20, with topic nodes 640 (artist A), 641(album “four seasons”), 642 (summer) and resource node referenceinformation 643 (summer) having links set by direct linking. On theother hand, a topic node 644 (album “Christmas”) and a topic node 645(“memories”) are held as invisible topic nodes. Invisible topic nodesare shown using dotted lines.

Then, in a case where weighting of a node changes as a result of a userutilizing the song “summer”, invisible topic nodes satisfying theactivation conditions are activated in accordance with the order shownin the flowchart of FIG. 23.

The activated topic nodes, for example, carry out predetermined behaviorsuch as the showing of, for example, advertisements, to users.

In cases where invisible topic nodes are activated, in addition toadding topic nodes to the overall model, invisible topic nodes are alsochanged to typical topic nodes for relationship models holding invisibletopic nodes.

FIG. 22 is a view showing an internal model for the case where topicnodes 644 and 645 of FIG. 21 are activated.

At a relationship model 647 for the site A, topic nodes 644 and 645 areactivated and changed to usual topic nodes 644 a and 645 a.

Further, new topic nodes 644 b and 645 b are added at an overallrelationship model 648.

Advertisement information relating, for example, to an album “Christmas”and a song “memories” can then be displayed at the terminal 100 inaccompaniment with activation of the topic nodes 644 and 645.Advertisements may be carried out through the displaying of images orthe playing back of audio, etc.

FIG. 23 is a flowchart illustrating order of activation of invisibletopic nodes.

First, the relationship model operation means 104 extracts topic nodes,of the internal model, which have been given activation conditions, andgenerates a set D taking these as elements (step 403).

Next, the relationship model operation means 104 determines whether ornot the set D is an empty set (step 405).

If the set D is an empty set, i.e. in a case where invisible topic nodesare not present within the internal model (step 405; Y), the processingends.

If the set D is not an empty set (step 405; N), the relationship modeloperation means 104 extracts an arbitrary element Ti from the set D(step 410).

Next, the relationship model operation means 104 determines whether ornot an influence degree (value) of the element Ti is greater than apredetermined threshold value (step 415).

If the influence degree of the element Ti is not greater than apredetermined threshold value (step 415; N), the processing of therelationship model operation means 104 returns to step 405, and asimilar processing is carried out for another element Ti.

If the influence degree of the element Ti is greater than thepredetermined threshold value (step 415; Y), the relationship modeloperation means 104 determines whether or not behavior designated at theelement Ti is present (step 420).

In a case where a behavior designated at the element Ti is not present(step 420; N), the processing of the relationship model operation means104 returns to step 405, and a similar processing is carried out foranother element Ti.

In a case where a behavior designated at the element Ti is present (step420; Y), the communication control means 103 carries out designatedoperations (step 425).

Next, the relationship model operation means 104 changes this element Tito a normal topic mode, and also reflects this element Ti in the overallrelationship model (step 430).

Thereafter, the relationship model operation means 104 repeats each ofthe steps from step 405 to step 430 until the set D becomes an emptyset.

Next, a description is given of a personalization method employingrelationship models.

Personalization is information processing suitable for individual userssuch as changing display content of a WEB page in accordance with aninternal model possessed by an individual user.

In relationship models, various topics (topics) are stored in a form oftopic nodes, with values for the topics as seen by the user beingcalculated according to resource utilization conditions.

It is possible to increase a value felt by the user with respect toprovided products by showing products relating to information sensed asbeing of value to the user when a WEB server etc. administered by anenterprise presents WEB pages to a user.

For example, it is assumed that the user A obtains several photographs(image data) via a photographic community. It is assumed that the user Alikes these pictures and looks at them many times using the image/movingimage viewer 112 or sets them as a wallpaper. At this time, influence onthe topic node given to the resource (image data) at this time is madehigher).

Here, these photographs are assumed to be taken using a camera employinga certain digital system, and the user A is assumed to access the WEBsite for digital cameras of the digital system.

At this time, the extent to which the user likes these digital camerascan be increased by displaying the photographs that the user likes ondigital camera WEB pages the WEB site presents to the user.

A more specific description is now given of an example of displaying aphotograph for which user evaluation is high on the WEB page. In thisexample, this function is implemented using, for example, a CGI (CommonGateway Interface).

This “CGI” is technology for implementing information processing that ismore advanced than in a case of describing WEB pages using mark-uplanguage such as simple HTML etc., that is implemented by embedding CGIscripts described using a computer language such as, for example, Perl,in the aforementioned WEB pages, with this CGI program then beingexecuted by the server.

Because of this, in the current case, a server function for implementingCGI script is provided at the terminal 100.

FIG. 24 is a view showing a configuration for the communication controlmeans 102 for the case where CGI is implemented at the terminal 100.

Communication means 2081 is a module for carrying out communicationbetween the content server 200 and other servers, and carries outtransmission and receive of files, etc.

A WEB server 2802 interprets HTML files (WEB page information)downloaded from the content server 200 and other servers by thecommunication means 2801. In this example, the WEB pages are assumed tobe made using HTML files. These may also be made using other types ofmark-up language.

A CGI 2083 is installed at the WEB server 2802 and interprets CGIscripts in the HTML files.

In a case where script denoting personalization is contained in theinterpreted HTML file, the WEB server 2802 analyzes these using CGI2803.

In this embodiment, the script is for extracting resources satisfyingprescribed conditions using the relationship model, and presenting theseby displaying in combination at the WEB pages.

The WEB server 2802 then builds prescribed resources into an HTML filein accordance with the CGI script in the HTML file to enable utilizationby the browser 110.

The WEB server 2802 is therefore configured with incorporation means,and the browser 110 is configured with presentation means.

In a case of the resource being an image (image data), a query is sentto a specific port of the local host using an image tag expressing thedisplaying of the image in the HTML so as to enable implementation byacquiring the image data.

For example, a topic node referred to as “abc-P5” is set for image datataken using a digital camera of a model number abc-P5, and when theinfluence of this topic node is higher than average, a tag fordisplaying the image set at the link of this topic node can be describedby the following.

-   -   <img        src=“http://localhost:80/scripts?type=imag&topic=abc-p5&effect=avg_high”/>

Authentication confirmation means 2804 is for obtaining permission forexecution at an authentication device (installed, for example, on theserver 200) (not shown) when the WEB server 2802 executes contentinstructed by the CGI script.

The HTML file containing this CGI script utilizes the users internalmodel (users individual information). This means that only a HTML filesent from the appropriate server is capable of using the users internalmodel, and misuse of the users personal information can therefore beprevented.

It is also taken that the user has the internal model shown in FIG. 25.In a case where displaying of two images taken with the digital cameraof the model number abc-P5 is designated using the aforementioned kindof tag, image data specified by the resource nodes 2401 and 2402 isacquired.

The browser 110 displays the images as shown in FIG. 26 where this imagedata is combined in the WEB page.

An image 2405 in FIG. 26 is embedded on the side of the terminal 100 inaccordance with script contained in the HTML file distributed from thedigital camera site etc. of the content server 200 so as to providepersonalization.

In this example, when the WEB page for the digital camera is displayed,the image data highly evaluated by the user themselves and the modelnumber of the digital camera that took this image data are displayed,and the users evaluation of the digital camera can therefore beincreased.

FIG. 27 is a flowchart illustrating order in a case of personalizing aWEB page.

First, when script is contained in a WEB page, the WEB server 2802interprets this using the CGI 2803, and acquisition of resourcessatisfying prescribed conditions described in the script is returned tothe relationship model operation means 104 (step 505).

When there is no personalization instruction in the WEB page (step 510;N), the communication control means 103 sends a WEB page to the browser110 (step 525), and the processing ends.

Next, when there is a personalization instruction in the WEB page (step510; Y), the relationship model operation means 104 attempts to acquirethe necessary resources from the resource storage means 105 (step 515).

When the required resources cannot be acquired (step 515; N), thecommunication control means 103 sends a WEB page to the browser 110(step 525) and the processing ends.

When the necessary resources cannot be acquired (step 515; Y), thecommunication control means 103 acquires the resources and passes themover to the WEB server 2082. The WEB server 2082 then combines theacquired resources and WEB page (step 520), sends these to the browser110 (step 525), and processing is complete.

The resources possessed by the user can then be combined and presentedat the WEB page by the browser 110.

Next, a description is given of visualizing of the relationship model.

In this embodiment, a description is given of a case of visualizing arelationship model taking similarity of interest and influence as axesin a two-dimensional plane, and a case of visualizing topics as axes oftopic frequency and importance. These visualizations are carried out bythe relationship model visualizing means 107 (relationship modelanalysis means 205 in the case of the content server 200).

The following takes the case of visualizing relationship models takingsimilarity of interest and influence as axes in a two-dimensional plane.

First, similarity for an overall relationship model for a specificrelationship model Ri is defined using the following equation (1).Sim(Ri)=Σ(Taj×Trj)/{Σ(Taj)²×Σ(Trj)²}^(1/2)  (Equation 1)

Here, Taj and Trj represent relative influence of the overallrelationship model and the specific relationship node respectively forthe topic nodes. Here, relative influence is taken to be a value givenby dividing the influence of each topic node by the total influence ofeach topic node within each model. Similarity is by no means limited tothis equation, and a correlation coefficient relating to the influenceof each topic node may also be taken as the similarity. At this time,equation (1) becomes the following equation (2). In this way, therelationship model visualizing means 107 constitutes similarityacquisition means.Sim(Ri)=Σ{(Taj-<Ta>)×(Trj-<Tr>)/{Σ(Taj-<Ta>)²×Σ(Trj-<Tr>)²}^(1/2)  (Equation2)

Here, <Ta> and <Tr> express an average of Taj and Trj, respectively.

Next, influence of each specific relationship model is calculated.Influence is calculated as the item, of the topic nodes contained ineach specific relationship structure, for which influence is the largestfor each specific relationship model, and influence on each specificrelationship model Ri is defined by the following equation (3).E(Ri)=max[E(Tj)|TjεRi]/max[E(Tk)|TkεRk,0<k<1]  (Equation 3)

Where E(Tj) expresses the influence of topic node Tj. Further, it istaken that at least one specific relationship model exists within theinternal model. The relationship model visualizing means 107 isconfigured from structure value acquisition means for acquiringinfluence of a specific relationship model (structure value for aspecific relationship structure).

According to the above equations (1) to (3), influence and similaritycalculated for each specific relationship target (the user B, the userC, etc.) is displayed in a two-dimensional plane. At this time, of iconsexpressing the targets of each specific relationship model and topicnodes utilized in calculation of influence, items for which theinfluence if in excess of a predetermined threshold value are displayed.This example is shown in FIG. 28.

As shown in FIG. 28, the similarity is high for the user C, butinfluence is not high. On the other hand, the influence of the user B ishigh but the similarity is not high. Further, it can be understood thatthe influence of the topic node for “topic 2” of the specificrelationship model of the user B exceeds the threshold value.

Moreover, it can be understood that the specific relationship model forthe user D is such that influence and similarity are high, and that atopic node for “topic 1” of the relationship model for user D exceeds athreshold value.

A large similarity between the specific relationship model and theoverall relationship model means that the likes and interests of theuser that is the target of the specific relationship model and the userin possession of this internal model are similar. This is because theoverall relationship model is also a relationship model for the user inpossession of the internal model.

Further, a large influence means that the number of times of utilizationof resources relating to the specific relationship model is large, andthe value with regards to the user is high.

Next, the following is performed in the case where topics are visualizedby taking topic frequency and influence as axes.

In this example, value is visualized with respect to interest withinoneself using influence and frequency of topic nodes. In order to carryout visualization, within the overall relationship model, relativefrequency of each topic node is calculated using the following equation(4). Here, F(Tj) expresses the frequency of topic node Tj.Tf(Tj)=F(Tj)/ΣF(Ti)  (Equation 4)

Similarly, the relative influence of each topic node is calculated usingthe following equation (5). Here, E(Tj) expresses influence of a topicnode within the overall relationship model.E(Tj)=E(Tj)/max[E(Tj)|TjεA]  (Equation 5)

Next, language expressing each topic node is displayed at positions(Tf(Tj), E(Tj)) in a two-dimensional plane taking relative frequency andinfluence of topic nodes as axes, similarly to FIG. 28.

Now, a description is given for searching (browsing) information spaceusing a relationship model. Here, information within information spaceis taken to hold topic structure expressing information content andrelationship sets possessed by information as meta-information. Thetopic structure expressing content of information is meta-informationequivalent to that assigned to information during information exchange.Searching of information space is carried out by the relationship modelanalysis means 205 but it is also possible for the relationship modelvisualizing means 107 to be given the similar function.

In a case where information within the information space is topicstructure expressing information content, the following values arecalculated for the search target in information space. First, a specificrelationship model with the highest similarity with the topic structurepossessed by the information is selected and the influence of thisspecific relationship model is calculated. Calculation of similarityemploys equation (1), and calculation of influence employs equation (3).In this case, the relationship model analysis means 205 the similarityrelationship structure acquisition means.

Next, similarity between a topic structure and an overall relationshipmodel is calculated based on equation (1). Information which is wishedto search for is then displayed in a two-dimensional plane based on thissimilarity and the influence that has just been calculated.

In a case where the information possesses a relationship set in the formof meta-information, at the relationship model, groups of specificrelationship models for the same target are extracted (matching),similarity is calculated for the extracted individual specificrelationship models and overall relationship models based on equation(1), and this average value is taken as the similarity. Next, theaverage value of influence is calculated for each topic within thisspecific relationship model set and is taken as influence with respectto the information.

The searched information is then displayed in a two-dimensional planebased on the similarity and influence as calculated above.

It is also possible to choose specific relationship models forutilization. In this case, at the relationship model visualizing means107, only specific relationship models selected by the user areutilized, and a searchable information space is generated. Morespecifically, the user selects specific relationship models which iswished to utilize or not utilize in the configuring of search space fromthe specific relationship models displayed by relationship visualizingbeforehand.

Next, a description is given of an example of displaying a relationshipmodel at the display of a terminal 100.

FIG. 29 is a view illustrating transition of a screen displayed at adisplay. It is possible to select “look at relationship model” or“browse” using a selection screen 701.

After “look at relationship model” is selected at the selection screen701, a further selection screen 702 is displayed, and it is possible toselect “display topic” or “display relationship”. When either isselected using selection screen 702, displaying of the selected contenttakes place at a display screen 704.

After “browse” is selected using the selection screen 701, a furtherselection screen 703 is displayed, and it is possible to select “browsebased on relationship” or browsed based on topic”.

After either is selected using the selection screen 703, displaying ofthe selected content takes place at a display screen 705. At the displayscreen 705, a checkbox is provided for choosing relationship models forcarrying out browsing, with relationship models that are checked beingutilized in browsing. The display screen 705 constitutes choosing means.

FIG. 30 is a view showing an example of a relationship model editscreen. Editing operations such as generation of topic nodes and settingof nodes etc. can be carried out using a relationship model editingscreen.

The overall relationship model can be displayed graphically at an ownmodel display area 730. Selected specific relationship models can alsobe displayed graphically at a specific relationship model display area731. A relationship model for the user A is displayed in the drawings.It is possible to select which user a relationship model is displayedfor by operating a “change relationship model displayed” button. In acase where a relationship model is selected for the user C, as shown inFIG. 31, a relationship model can be displayed for the user C.

In a case where a “make topic” button is clicked, a topic node is madeat the specific relationship model display area 731, and a correspondingtopic node is also made at the overall relationship model display area730.

In a case where a “make link” button is clicked after selecting twotopic nodes using the specific relationship model display area 731,these two topic nodes are connected by a link. A corresponding topicnode is also connected by linking at the overall relationship modeldisplay area 730.

In a case where a “reflect updates” button is clicked, the relationshipmodel updates the edited content.

After a topic node is selected at the specific relationship modeldisplay area 731, if a topic name is inputted using “topic information”and the “update” button is selected, the topic name is updated to theinputted topic name for the topic node. The topic name of thecorresponding topic node of the overall relationship model display area730 is also similarly updated.

After a link is selected using the specific relationship model displayarea 731, if a weighting is inputted using “link information” and the“update” button is selected, the weighting is updated to the inputtedweighting. The weighting of the corresponding link of the overallrelationship model display area 730 is also similarly updated.

In the embodiment described above, the following effects can beobtained.

(1) By using information pushing technology, it is possible todistribute information at a time when a user feels value so as to enablemore effective information distribution.

(2) By using personalization technology for WEB pages at a WEB site, itis possible to present information in a manner where a user feels valuebased on an internal model possessed by the user, and it is possible toevoke a feeling of value for the information wished to be presented byan administrator of a website in a user.

(3) By visualizing information structures, it is possible for a user tounderstand their own experiences on a network (for example, informationreceived from user B was high in value, but information received fromuser C was not so high in value) based on relationships, so that moreeffective communication is possible by carrying out communication basedon relationships.

(4) By visualizing information structures it is possible to visualizethe value possessed by a community or to visualize information providedby contributors to a community. As a result, it is possible for anenterprise to determine whether or not a community is an appropriatecommunity with which to do business.

(5) Regarding searching of information space, by configuring searchedspace using value with respect to relationships and topics possessed byusers, it is possible for a user to easily recall the value of a targetso as to enable effective information searching.

In the above, a description is given of an embodiment of the presentinvention, but the present invention is by no means limited to theembodiment described, and various modifications are possible within thescope of the present invention as laid out in the patent claims.

According to the present invention, it is possible to handle changesoccurring in the value of information dynamically.

1. A computer-implemented method performed by a first terminal formanaging media resources, comprising: receiving, from a second terminal,a first relationship model associated with a user of the second terminaland describing hierarchically the content of a media resource, the firstrelationship model including: first topic nodes corresponding to firstkeywords describing the content of the media resource, a first resourcenode identifying the media resource, and first links connecting thefirst topic nodes and the first resource node; accessing a stored secondrelationship model describing hierarchically the content of a mediaresource associated with a user of the first terminal, the secondrelationship model including: second topic nodes corresponding to secondkeywords describing the content of the media resource, a second resourcenode identifying the media resource, and second links connecting thesecond topic nodes and the second resource node; determining whether thefirst relationship model contains a topic node or a resource node thatis different from the second relationship model, based on whether akeyword of the first keywords is different from the second keywords; andwhen it is determined that the first relationship model contains thedifferent node, updating the second relationship model to include thedifferent node.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the updatingcomprises: adding the different node to the second relationship model;and linking the different node to other nodes in the second relationshipmodel.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the second relationship modelfurther includes weightings assigned to the second links, the weightingsindicating values of the second topic nodes connected by the secondlinks in leading the user of the first device to access the mediaresource.
 4. The method of claim 3, further comprising, when it isdetermined that the first relationship model contains no node differentfrom the second relationship model, increasing the weightings of thelinks between the second resource node and the second topic nodes in thesecond relationship model corresponding to the first resource node andthe first topic nodes in the first relationship model.
 5. The method ofclaim 3, further comprising: receiving a request from the user of thefirst device to access the media resource; and increasing the weightingsof links between the second resource node and the second topic nodes inthe second relationship model corresponding to the requested resource.6. The method of claim 3, further comprising automatically performing apredetermined action in response to the weightings increasing such thatthe values of the second topic nodes exceed a threshold.
 7. The methodof claim 6, wherein the predetermined action includes pushinginformation to at least one of the first and second terminals.
 8. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: computing a similarity betweenthe first relationship model and the second relationship model; andpushing information to one of the first and second terminals when thecomputed similarity is greater than a predetermined threshold.
 9. Acomputer-implemented method performed by a first terminal for managingmedia resources, comprising: receiving a selection of a media resourceto be transmitted to a second terminal; accessing a stored firstrelationship model associated with the user of the first terminal anddescribing hierarchically the content of the media resource, the firstrelationship model including: first topic nodes corresponding to firstkeywords describing the content of the media resource, a first resourcenode identifying the media resource, and first links connecting thefirst topic nodes and the first resource node; accessing a stored secondrelationship model associated with a user of the second terminal anddescribing hierarchically the content of the media resource, the secondrelationship model including: second topic nodes corresponding to secondkeywords describing the content of the media resource, a second resourcenode identifying the media resource, and second links connecting thesecond topic nodes and the second resource node; determining whether thefirst relationship model contains a topic node that is different fromthe second relationship model, based on whether a keyword of the firstkeywords is different from the second keywords; and when it isdetermined that the first relationship model contains the differenttopic node: updating the second relationship model to include thedifferent topic node; and transmitting to the second terminal theselected media resource and the updated second relationship model. 10.The method of claim 9, wherein the updating comprises: adding thedifferent topic node corresponding to the different keyword to thesecond relationship model; and linking the added topic node to othernodes in the second relationship model.
 11. The method of claim 9,wherein the first and second relationship models further includerespective weightings assigned to the first and second links, theweightings respectively indicating the values of the first and secondtopic nodes connected by the first and second links in leading the usersof the first and second terminals to access the media resource.
 12. Themethod of claim 11, further comprising, when it is determined that thefirst relationship model contains no topic node different from thesecond relationship model, increasing the weightings of links betweenthe resource node and the topic nodes in at least one of the first andsecond relationship models.
 13. The method of claim 11, furthercomprising increasing the weightings of links between the resource nodeand the topic nodes in at least one of the first and second relationshipmodels in response to the request.
 14. The method of claim 11, furthercomprising automatically performing a predetermined action in responseto the weightings increasing such that the values of the topic nodesexceed a threshold.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein thepredetermined action includes pushing information to at least one of thefirst and second terminals.
 16. The method of claim 9, furthercomprising: computing a similarity between the first relationship modeland the second relationship model; and pushing information to at leastone of the first and second terminals when the computed similarity isgreater than a predetermined threshold.
 17. A computer-readable storagemedium storing a computer program that, when executed by a firstterminal, causes the first terminal to perform a method for managingmedia resources, the method comprising: receiving, from a secondterminal, a first relationship model associated with a user of thesecond terminal and describing hierarchically the content of a mediaresource, the first relationship model including: first topic nodescorresponding to first keywords describing the content of the mediaresource, a first resource node identifying the media resource, andfirst links connecting the first topic nodes and the first resourcenode; accessing a stored second relationship model describinghierarchically the content of a media resource associated with a user ofthe first terminal, the second relationship model including: secondtopic nodes corresponding to second keywords describing the content ofthe media resource, a second resource node identifying the mediaresource, and second links connecting the second topic nodes and thesecond resource node; determining whether the first relationship modelcontains a topic node or a resource node that is different from thesecond relationship model, based on whether a keyword of the firstkeywords is different from the second keywords; and when it isdetermined that the first relationship model contains the differentnode, updating the second relationship model to include the differentnode.
 18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein theupdating comprises: adding the different node to the second relationshipmodel; and linking the different node to other nodes in the secondrelationship model.
 19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim17, wherein the second relationship model further includes weightingsassigned to the second links, the weightings indicating values of thesecond topic nodes connected by the second links in leading the user ofthe first device to access the media resource.
 20. The computer-readablestorage medium of claim 19, the method further comprising, when it isdetermined that the first relationship model contains no node differentfrom the second relationship model, increasing the weightings of thelinks between the second resource node and the second topic nodes in thesecond relationship model corresponding to the first resource node andthe first topic nodes in the first relationship model.
 21. Thecomputer-readable storage medium of claim 19, the method furthercomprising: receiving a request from the user of the first device toaccess the media resource; and increasing the weightings of linksbetween the second resource node and the second topic nodes in thesecond relationship model corresponding to the requested resource. 22.The computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, the method furthercomprising automatically performing a predetermined action in responseto the weightings increasing such that the values of the second topicnodes exceed a threshold.
 23. The computer-readable storage medium ofclaim 22, wherein the predetermined action includes pushing informationto at least one of the first and second terminals.
 24. Thecomputer-readable storage medium of claim 17, the method furthercomprising: computing a similarity between the first relationship modeland the second relationship model; and pushing information to one of thefirst and second terminals when the computed similarity is greater thana predetermined threshold.
 25. A computer-readable storage mediumstoring a computer program that, when executed by a first terminal,causes the first terminal to perform a method for managing mediaresources, the method comprising: receiving a selection of a mediaresource to be transmitted to a second terminal; accessing a storedfirst relationship model associated with the user of the first terminaland describing hierarchically the content of the media resource, thefirst relationship model including: first topic nodes corresponding tofirst keywords describing the content of the media resource, a firstresource node identifying the media resource, and second linksconnecting the first topic nodes and the first resource node; accessinga stored second relationship model associated with a user of the secondterminal and describing hierarchically the content of the mediaresource, the second relationship model including: second topic nodescorresponding to second keywords describing the content of the mediaresource, a second resource node identifying the media resource, andsecond links connecting the second topic nodes and the second resourcenode; determining whether the first relationship model contains a topicnode that is different from the second relationship model, based onwhether a keyword of the first keywords is different from the secondkeywords; and when it is determined that the first relationship modelcontains the different topic node: updating the second relationshipmodel to include the determined different topic node; and transmittingto the second terminal the selected media resource and the updatedsecond relationship model.
 26. The computer-readable storage medium ofclaim 25, wherein the updating comprises: adding the different topicnode corresponding to the different keyword to the second relationshipmodel; and linking the added topic node to other nodes in the secondrelationship model.
 27. The computer-readable storage medium of claim25, wherein the first and second relationship models further includerespective weightings assigned to the first and second links, theweightings respectively indicating values of the first and second topicnodes connected by the first and second links in leading the users ofthe first and second terminals to access the media resource.
 28. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 27, the method further comprising,when it is determined that the first relationship model contains notopic node different from the second relationship model, increasing theweightings of links between the resource node and the topic nodes in atleast one of the first and second relationship models.
 29. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 27, the method further comprisingincreasing the weightings of links between the resource node and thetopic nodes in at least one of the first and second relationship modelsin response to the request.
 30. The computer-readable storage medium ofclaim 27, the method further comprising automatically performing apredetermined action in response to the weightings increasing such thatthe values of the topic nodes exceed a threshold.
 31. Thecomputer-readable storage medium of claim 30, wherein the predeterminedaction includes pushing information to at least one of the first andsecond terminals.
 32. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 25,the method further comprising: computing a similarity between the firstrelationship model and the second relationship model; and pushinginformation to at least one of the first and second terminals when thecomputed similarity is greater than a predetermined threshold.
 33. Afirst information processing apparatus, comprising: a memory storing afirst relationship model describing hierarchically the content of amedia resource associated with a user of the first informationprocessing apparatus and, the first relationship model including: firsttopic nodes corresponding to first keywords describing the content ofthe media resource, a first resource node identifying the mediaresource, and first links connecting the first topic nodes and the firstresource node; and a processor configured to: receive, from a secondterminal, a second relationship model associated with a user of thesecond terminal and describing hierarchically the content of the mediaresource, the second relationship model including: second topic nodescorresponding to second keywords describing the content of the mediaresource, a second resource node identifying the media resource, andsecond links connecting the second topic nodes and the second resourcenode; determine whether the second relationship model contains a topicnode or a resource node that is different from the first relationshipmodel, based on whether a keyword of the second keywords is differentfrom the first keywords; and when it is determined that the secondrelationship model contains the different node, updating the firstrelationship model to include the different node.